114 



BTTRMAH. 



ness and disorder in Burmah, every new out- 

 break of rage or folly on the part of the dis- 

 sipated monarch, evoked repetitions of the 

 demand for the annexation of the territory. 

 Meanwhile English commercial interests were 

 content with maintaining a standing quarrel 

 with the Mandalay Government, and waited 

 for the exploitation of Upper Burmah and the 

 advantages of the trade-route until matters 

 should come to a head. The restrictions placed 

 upon English traders by the establishment of 

 monopolies, the withdrawal of the British con- 

 suls at Mandalay and Bhamo, the abolition of 

 mixed courts, and the general stagnation re- 

 sulting from the tyranny and misrule of The- 

 baw, caused a large decline in the trade with 

 British Burmah, though an improvement has 

 taken place since 1862. In 1884 there was an 

 increase in the exports of cattle, hides, jag- 

 gery, timber, and silver, but a decline in cutch, 

 oils, and silk. There was also a large increase 

 in the imports of rice to make up for a de- 

 ficiency in the crop. 



Connected with the schemes for taking in- 

 dependent Burmah under British administra- 

 tion and building a railroad was a newly 

 started movement for the separation of British 

 Burmah from India. The chief object was to 

 set free for these projects the surplus revenue 

 of British Burmah, amounting to fully a million 

 sterling. 



Conflict with Great Britain. The over-acute- 

 ness of Thebaw's advisers, and the coloniz- 

 ing zeal of M. Thomson, Governor of French 

 Cochin China, hastened the blow that they 

 sought to avert. Thebaw's strong-minded 

 Queen and other advisers thought they could 

 save the kingdom by creating French interests 

 to balance the English. The French officials 

 at the same time deemed that England's per- 

 plexities in Egypt, and subsequently in Afghan- 

 istan, left open the way for the extension of 

 French influence over the Indo-Chinese penin- 

 sula, and the advancement of the project of 

 a new French East India. The beginning was 

 made by the high-handed reduction of Cam- 

 bodia to French control. Overtures were made 

 to the King of Siam, who has equally to fear 

 French and English aggression. Burmah is 

 separated from the French possessions by 500 

 miles of territory inhabited by independent 

 Shan tribes ; but Burmah presented the unu- 

 sual spectacle of a native state desiring French 

 protection, and offering valuable privileges to 

 French enterprise voluntarily. The English 

 renewed the agitation for the deposition of 

 Thebaw and the annexation of Upper Burmah. 

 Yet, as they feared to be anticipated by France, 

 not so much in Burmah as in Siam, the project of 

 a railway was altered so as to carry the" route 

 into China, around Burmah, through Bangkok. 

 This route, surveyed by Messrs. Hallett and 

 Colquhoun, is less difficult than those passing 

 through the mountainous parts of Burmah and 

 i unnan, and traverses a much more populous 

 ftnd prosperous country. Influential Siamese 



statesmen favored the guarantee by the King 

 of the Siamese section, provided the connecting 

 line was guaranteed by the Indian Govern- 

 ment. 



The Mandalay authorities ceased conferring 

 trading and industrial privileges upon English- 

 men, and offered every inducement to capital 

 and enterprise from Continental Europe, and 

 particularly from France. In the latter part 



:;.: ;-,:U. 



A BITKMESE COLONEL. 



of 1884 a treaty of alliance and friendship was 

 negotiated between the King of Burmah and 

 the colonial authorities of Cochin China. It 

 provided for the establishment of a French 

 Consul at Mandalay. M. Haas was appoint- 

 ed to that office, and he, in conjunction with 

 M. Thomson, entered eagerly into Thebaw's 



